Disney Day 3

We stayed at Saratoga Springs for the first time ever this trip.  It's part of the Disney Vacation Club resorts.

 Sunday morning we had breakfast at Chef Mickey's.  The food was great!  The kids of course loved seeing all the characters.  It wasn't a very relaxing meal as it felt like I was either up getting more food for my kids (they were all in big eating moods!) or up taking pictures of the kids with the characters, but it was still fun.

 This is so typical of these three.  The boys are being goofy laying on each other and Layla is just sitting and smiling sweetly for the picture.

 A big hug for Minnie!

 A Disney trip (in my opinion) wouldn't be complete without Mickey waffles!!  Even with my Mickey waffle iron at home, I just can't seem to make them quite the same--must be the pixie dust they sprinkle on them:).

 Riding the monorail..

 The part of the bathroom in our room that had the tub in it didn't have a door to it, so Greta thought it was pretty fun that she could keep going over there and turning the water on.  The problem came with Gibs turned the faucet and it then was pouring water onto the floor...

 She found it pretty hilarious...

 The kids loved the splash pad area...

 This is one of the small pools (closest to wear we stayed--it's a very big resort).

 Gavin and Grampy had fun visiting the Lego Store and then playing with them back in the room.  The nice thing about Saratoga Springs is that you can take a boat to Downtown Disney.  You also can from Port Orleans, where we stayed last time, and from Old Key West, which is where we'll be staying in the fall--funny that we happen to be staying in those three resortsthat are all by each other, all in a row.

 Instead of always eating out, one night we picked up Macaroni Grill and it we had so much food we all got at least another meal out of the leftovers.  Yum!  The baby girls loved making a mess with it:-).

 This is in the Lego Store.  It was SO crazy busy that we just waited in line to quick get this picture and then left.

Disney Day 2 - Magic Kingdom

The day after we arrived in Disney World, we spent the whole day at the Magic Kingdom.  The kids did great.  Even the babies did great learning to survive on cat naps.  Both girls apparently thought that It's A Small World was pretty soothing:-).

 My baby girl doesn't often fall asleep in my arms!

 View of where they were building Rapunzel's tower.  Can't wait to see it complete (even though I guess it's just a bathroomd)!

 I had told Layla that the day she dressed as Rapunzel, we'd get a pic of her with the tower in the background, but we weren't over by the tower that day until it was dark:-(.  At least Joyce did take this close up of the tower (we couldn't see the bottom of it--it was covered by construction fences).

 Out of order, but this was taken before we entered the park...

 Right when we entered the park, Pluto was greeting people and there was a really short line.  He is one of Gibs' favorite characters so it was perfect that that was who we saw first!  The kids, especially Gibs, were very interested in seeing where we were at on the map.

 Waiting to meet Pluto!! 

 Such excited kiddos!

Family photo...

 The Lubbers with Pluto...

 After we left Pluto, we saw Mary Poppins with no wait at all.  Layla LOVES Mary Poppins.

 Later, we met Mickey (sadly, Minnie wasn't there)...

 The whole group!

 I LOVE the feeling of walking down Main Street for the first time each trip! 

 The new Dumbo wait area was great for the kids!! 

 Greta loved it too and was mad when it was our turn to go on the ride...

 

 This was definitely one of the kids' favorits rides!  Thankfully Gibs was tall enough!  It's so nice with Disney though that there is so much to do even with little kids that are too short for any roller coaster.   Greta went on almost every ride that we did (with the exception of roller coasters--this was the only ride that Gibs could do and that Greta couldn't) and she loved them all!  And she even liked the shows or fell asleep during them which was great.  Layla was so scared of anything in the dark when we took her at 10 months and Gibs was about the same way as Greta was when we took him at 16 months (Greta was 13 months) but it feels like we didn't get in as much on that trip as we did witht his trip.  It was so fun having 2 kids that could really understand and enjoy it all and Greta, although she won't remember it, really did love it all.  There's so much to capture kids'/babies' attention!

 They were all tired out by parade time.  It got hotter than anticipated, so that is why Layla is in a tank top and Gibs is wearing red shorts with a red shirt (I happened to have a back up pair with me).

 We have never before had SO many characters shake the kids' hands!  I don't know if we were sitting in a good spot or what.  It also happened at the Animal Kingdom parade. These were just a few I got pictures of.

 

 They also loved the new Little Mermaid ride and went on it both days we were there.

 Watching the electrical parade (we didn't get in line and terrible seats)...

 

Gas and Electric

They drywalled our house early last week and put one layer of mud on (the pics are obviously pre-mud).  There was no heat due to not having our electric or gas hooked up yet, so they had to then wait for the mud to dry longer than normal.  The weight restrictions on the roads (which is what was holding up having the gas and electric hooked up) were lifted last Wednesday, but then they couldn't get out there because we got tons of rain on Wednesday and Thursday.  Friday the gas company came out, but the electric company said it'd be awhile because they needed the ground to dry up.  It was predicted to rain all weekend and early in the week so we were so thankful when we didn't get that much rain this weekend (it did snow though--yuck!) so our yard (if you can call it that--it's a muddy mess!) dried up.  And we were pleasantly surprised this morning when Joe called the electric guy (as a friendly reminder that we would like it done asap:D) and they actually did then come today!  They got the pole in but didn't hook it up to the house, so hopefully that will be soon!

 

Dining/living...

Kitchen and part of dining...

Back entry...

 Dining area with a built in desk to the left...

Yea to having the electrical and the gas companies there today!! (gas started Friday and we think are probably done now)

 

Disney Day 1

 

I keep procrastinating putting our Disney trip pics on here (such a pain now that I have to resize all my pics or Blogger won't let me upload them), but I know I'll be mad if I don't do it and they aren't in our blog book for 2013, so I thought maybe if started posting by day, it'd be more achievable for me:).

 

We had a great trip!  We went right after New Years, so we were able to see the Christmas decorations the first few days we were there.  I love Disney at Christmas time!!

 

We thought we had a lot of stuff to take when we went with 2 kids 2 years ago, another kid definitely adds more stuff!  But I feel like we really thought it through ahead of time and didn't overpack and packed "smart" as far as what we put in carry-ons and such, so it was manageable for Joe and I to handle our stuff by ourselves.  We are going again in October and I really feel like we'll try to pack about the same.  We also will most likely take the same strollers along that we took this past time--one side by side double and one single that can be thrown over your shoulder.  With small kids in Disney, strollers are a must!

 The kids did great on the plane ride.  Greta cried for a few minutes until she fell asleep, but other than that was good.  Unfortunately "Presley" (the doll in her arms) got left on the plane:(.  With all our stuff, I guess we're lucky that was all we left behind:).  She must have slid under the seat or something and that's how we missed seeing her when we got off.  Thankfully, we were able to buy Presley the second at Target when we got home:).  And thankfully we had Piper along in the suitcase.  When I got Presley #2, I also picked up Pippa just in case any more get lost.  So she know has triplets:). 

 The big kids sat nice on the ride...

 All of our stuff (we had two boosters in the bag on the right and Harper was using the stroller that we took for Greta b/c they checked their double)...

 Always love seeing Mickey greeting us in our room:) (or actually this is probably Minnie)...

We stayed at Saratoga Springs for the first time this time so we shared a suite with Em and Mike (their room was one side and ours on the other, with the kitchen in the middle and we each had our own bath).  It was handy having a kitchen and washer/dryer in our room. 

Waiting for the bus to take to Downtown Disney...(the kids get excited about the Disney busses:D)

This was I think our coldest day, then it got nice and warm which was nice since you never know what the weather will be like in January!

 Christmas decorations at Downtown Disney...

Lubbers Kids

I baby-sat Harper and Gavin last week a day.  The girls are so cute to see play with each other.

 

I couldn't get Greta to smile for the picture.  Every time I'd take one, I get her mouth open:).

 So I put them in the same chair which they weren't too excited about.

 I thought this one was so cute.  Harper kept blowing Greta kisses and Greta thought it was hilarious:).

 This is so typical Greta.  I often find her in my laundry basket, just chillin'. :)

 The three big kids had some worse than usual issues getting along, but all was good once they each made their own fort to play in.